My very own copycat recipe of the famous ‘Ohana Pineapple Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Caramel Sauce at Walt Disney World!

Food is an obsession of mine. Good food that is. You can keep the bad, gross kind 😉

Over the past 10 years, my relationship with food has gone from one extreme to the other. When I was 16 I hated food. I hated it because food “made you fat”. (Did you know that when I was 16 it only took 1/2 of a cheeseburger to fill me up, that is all I could eat with out feeling like I was going to explode). As I traveled more I started to try different foods and started to embrace it a little more. When I got married I went into full housewife mood and wanted to cook everything. I felt like it was my purpose haha.Big Bear and I were trying new restaurants together, we were challenging each other to eat different things. “I’ll eat this calamari if you eat that spinach”. My taste in restaurants and foods went from Bojangles and Blue Box Mac and Cheese to WolfGang Puck and BreadPudding. Which led me to want to try everything….at least once.

What does that have to do with Pineapple Banana Bread Pudding with Banana Caramel Sauce?Everything!

Had I not started expanding my love for food, or been willing to try new foods, I never ever would have eaten anything called “bread pudding”. Pudding made from bread… that didn’t sound good at all. Sorry. But it didn’t. But I know now, that isn’t really what bread pudding is.

One of my “Fancy” local restaurant favorites, was a place called The Yancey House. We went there for almost every holiday. It was the first place I had lunch with Big Bear’s Grandmother, the first place I tried antelope, were our cousins had their wedding reception and a spot for many family dinners. They bought almost all of the food locally and the food was just fantastic. I even made it a rule that we had to go out for Mardi Gras, just so that we could go there for New Orleans/Creole food. I loved it.

They had a dessert called Jack Daniels Bread Pudding. It became a favorite of mine. I literally had it everytime I went. I loved it so much that I e-mailed the chef and told her how much I loved it, and what do you know she e-mailed me back with “I’m so glad you liked it– here is the recipe”. .I was happier than a pig in mud. Wait…. does anyone really say that anymore? Probably not. But I’m so glad that she sent me that recipe because a few months ago they closed their doors for the last time 🙁

When I was at Walt Disney World for the Food Blog Forum Food Blogger Conference, we went to Ohana for dinner one night. ( a recommendation from Chris, Thanks!) *It’s one of the restaurants at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.* After one of the most massive dinners ever, they twisted our arms and forced us to have dessert. 😉 Which was a Coconut Pineapple Bread Pudding. It was one of those moments where you take the first bite and Disney Fireworks explode around you. yeah.. ok for me it was. So what do I do when I have something in a restaurant that I just must have again? Make it at home of course! Plus since BigBear couldn’t come on the trip with me, I had to make it at home for him to try. I don’t’ think that they would have taken to kindly to me stuffing a whole tray of Coconut Pineapple Bread Pudding into my purse. 😉

I have no idea what Disney’s Recipe is, but this is my take on it. I used the basic steps from the Jack Daniels Bread Pudding and went from there. Oh and mine has no coconut in it. We’re not really a coconut loving family, so I switched and used Bananas instead as my second flavor. I think that I actually like mine better.

My version of the Coconut Pineapple Bread Pudding from Ohana at Disney's Polynesian Resort.

Prep Time:1h 15m

Cook Time:1h 10m

Total Time:2h 25m

Yield:9 large servings (or more if you cut smaller pieces)

Ingredients

12Hawaiian Bread Rolls (or any type of soft roll)

1cupcaramel sauce (I used caramel ice cream topping)

2bananas, sliced

For Banana Caramel Sauce:

1teaspoonnutmeg

1teaspooncinnamon

3bananas, mashed

1-2 cups crushed pineapple, drained

1pinthalf and half

1pintwhole milk

4tablespoonsvanilla

2cupsbrown sugar

6eggs

Vanilla Ice Cream (optional)

Instructions

Butter a 9-inch square baking dish.

Cube the rolls. Toss cubed rolls into baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well.

Add in the half and half, stir. Stir in the milk.

Add crushed pineapple and mashed bananas. Stir

Pour milk mixture over the bread cubes and toss well. Make sure all of the bread is nicely coated. (I did have a little extra liquid so you could add more bread cubes or just discard the extra)

Gently press down the bread crumbs.

Cover with foil and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight, or until the liquid is absorbed (I let mine sit overnight).

Once the bread pudding is ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 325F.

Bake for 1 and 10 minutes hour or until set.

For Caramel Sauce:

In a medium sauce pan, heat caramel on low heat. Add slice bananas and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes or until bananas are soft. Don\'t cook this to quick or with the heat to high or you will burn the caramel.

Reader Interactions

Comments

My wife just made this recipe and I have question about the measurement of the ingredients. Does the recipe call for an entire pint of whole milk and half/half which would equal 1 quart alone in fluid? That much liquid cannot be absorbed by the dozen rolls-maybe 2 dozen rolls. That much fluid just on those 2 ingredients would fill most of the 9×9 pan itself. We used less than half the mixture and are having to cook it an extended time because the bread was like mush based on the original cooking time. We saved the remaining mixture to possibly use for a second dozen rolls if this first batch comes out ok.

For every bread pudding I’ve ever made, I’ve always used 1 pint whole milk and 1 pint half and half and the same 9×9 dish. With adding the crushed pineapple and mashed bananas to this particular bread pudding, there will be a little milk mixture left over (I had less than 1/4 a cup, so I did discard that, but I made sure to note it.)

When I make mine in the 9×9 pan it literally comes all the way to the top of the pan, but that’s how I like to make mine. If you’re worried about everything not fitting, a larger pan will work as well.

Before the bread pudding sits in the mixture for a few hours it is going to be very runny and full of liquid. That much liquid can be absorbed by a dozen rolls, I know this because it happens every time I make bread pudding. 🙂 If you cook it as soon as it’s mixed it won’t have time to absorb and you’ll be left with mushy hot milk bread. You must let it sit (I let mine sit overnight) for it to all absorb.

I’m so disappointed. It was my first time making bread pudding and it turned out as soppy bread mush :(. I subbed low-fat milk for the whole and half/half but should that have made that big of a difference?? It was way runny.

I’m so sorry you had trouble with the bread pudding recipe. I’ve made it countless times and it’s always come out correctly. I’ve never used low fat milk and half/half mixture as I’ve always followed this recipe and used whole milk and half/half. Was it runny before or after you baked it? If it was before you baked it then it was done correctly. Before it sits it’s almost like bread soup. I let mine sit overnight to absorb all of the liquid. After it sits and then bakes for an hour or so it shouldn’t be runny at all. (Depending on ovens it may have to bake for a little longer than an hour, my oven only takes about an hour and 10 minutes)

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I love the Farmer's Market and Farm to Table meals but I'm also not ashamed to use canned vegetables and baking mixes. It's all about balance!
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